Making
fine champagne and sparkling wines is a complex, multistep process that
can take three to ten years to complete. The basic process hasnt
changed much in the few hundred years since enologists in France and
elsewhere began producing these delicate bubbly wines, although much
of what was once done by hand is now accomplished by machines.

Illustration: The caves of Louis Roederer in Reims, France, where champagne has been
produced for more than 200 years.